Monday, December 04, 2006

Jim Thompson is more soulful in Spanish

Did you know that Pop. 1280, Jim Thompson's tale of an aw-shucks sheriff who kills, is called 1280 Almas in Spanish? That's Spanish for "1,280 souls." Souls -- not a word one normally associates with Thompson, the nightmarish chronicler of mental and moral degeneration. Thanks to Detectives literarios.

I haven't read any critical studies about it, but I always reckoned 'Pop. 1280' was either wholly, or partly, allegorical.

As for 'The Rip-Off', I'll post my final verdict as soon as I've finished it.Oddly enough, it puts me in mind, in some passages, of Beckett's 'Molloy' trilogy, which I have in both paperback and CD form(read by the wonderful Barry McGovern)

I haven't read that one, but I think I have it somewhere.I bought a whole bunch of Thompson paperbacks during the early to mid 90's but after having read a bunch of them, mostly his more acclaimed ones, I just diversified a bit, intending to get back to the remainder, later.

Its fair to say that he's not just strange, but unconventional.btw, you can see him in the 1970's remake of 'Farewell My Lovely'

Links to this post:

About Me

This blog is a proud winner of the 2009 Spinetingler Award for special services to the industry and its blogkeeper a proud former guest on Wisconsin Public Radio's Here on Earth. In civilian life I'm a copy editor in Philadelphia. When not reading crime fiction, I like to read history. When doing neither, I like to travel. When doing none of the above, I like listening to music or playing it, the latter rarely and badly.
Click here to find an independent bookstore near you.